Bob The Frog Character Research pt1

Welcome to another post about my game based on my Character Bob the Frog. Now this post is to tell you about some of the research I did for his basic character look. Now I tend towards loving research.
Some of the Stuff I tend to research.

1. The look of something and checking out pictures on the Web and in books that I have.  (even though i am not an artist).
2. Gameplay fundamentals, such as jump height. I use popular games to research this.
3. Collision handling, such as catching the edges of platforms etc. I research these using other acclaimed games
4. Menus, this is a big one. Especially with me being newish to touch screen games
5. Story elements. How are current titles telling a story, or are they even bothering.

With all that in mind. Here is some of the research I did to get my character of Bob the Frog. Even though I will not be the one drawing him in the end. I feel I need to characterize himin my minds eye, so I can effectively tell his story. Follwing are several photos I took of frogs around my House. My Wife loves these things and I must say I find them cute too. I have a comment under each picture saying what I thought of this one as concerns being Bob the Frog in a phone game.

This is where I started. this frog is a little sad, but is pretty much what I need. Though all his flowers are a bit in the way of course. Now to find something a bit cleaner to work with.

This is a sharp picture, and this frog could do well in a more robotic style game I think, but not quite as cute as I really want. I need to have me frog exude cuteness, just by sitting there.

 

This fat and happy frog is awesome. And has some influence on Bobs desiegns. Only his upright posture and more human look with his arms isn't really what I wanted. I know many game humanize proportions etc to get a character to be more human and more easily accepted. However I did not want this, and i also do not think it nescessary.

 This frightening Frog with a clock is erm. Not what I wanted, though I must say that if I need a frightened frog for some reason, this is not bad. Gotta love his big buggy eyes eh! The kid is also a nice touch that could be used as an idea later.

 This Blue frog is one of my main inspirations. I love his attitude and he also loks like a frog. Though maybe cold? haha. I like him a lot and He could have been my Bob the Frog, only I feel that his head is just Not big enough to display the amount of character feedback I need for him. His leg and arm proportions however are awesome.

 Here he is. My other main frog inspiration. Mixing this frog with the blue one above gets me to where I wanna be. This guys arms are too stubby and his legs are are way back there and basically not really in the picture. This Frog is ALL face! And what a cutie he is too! Mixing his head with the Blue frogs other parts makes me feel like I have a great mix. Check out my previous post for a look at my current drawing of Bob the Frog to see what I mean. BOB the Frog.

Thats Bob art research for now. I hope you enjoyed seeing where he comes from and what he could have looked like etc.

Enjoy ya research,

Da Voodoochief